Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) Short Interest Update

Fortive Co. (NYSE:FTV) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,950,000 shares, an increase of 37.9% from the January 31st total of 5,040,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,510,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at Fortive

In related news, CFO Charles E. Mclaughlin sold 32,085 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $78.86, for a total value of $2,530,223.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 76,126 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,003,296.36. The trade was a 29.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Stacey A. Walker sold 3,002 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $79.05, for a total transaction of $237,308.10. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 42,373 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,349,585.65. The trade was a 6.62 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 243,385 shares of company stock worth $19,508,529. Company insiders own 1.01% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Fortive

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FTV. Dodge & Cox acquired a new stake in shares of Fortive during the fourth quarter worth $583,493,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Fortive during the 4th quarter worth $412,445,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 164.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 8,730,161 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $654,763,000 after buying an additional 5,429,566 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in shares of Fortive by 14,635.7% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 4,000,000 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $315,720,000 after buying an additional 3,972,855 shares during the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Fortive by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 42,947,135 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,221,036,000 after purchasing an additional 3,810,997 shares in the last quarter. 94.94% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Argus reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Fortive in a report on Monday, November 18th. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Fortive in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $84.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Fortive from $89.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Citigroup cut shares of Fortive from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $92.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Fortive currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.64.

Fortive Stock Down 2.4 %

Fortive stock traded down $1.87 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $77.13. The company had a trading volume of 2,638,271 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,089,521. The stock has a market cap of $26.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.15. Fortive has a 1 year low of $66.15 and a 1 year high of $87.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The business has a fifty day moving average of $78.84 and a 200 day moving average of $76.70.

Fortive (NYSE:FTV) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 7th. The technology company reported $1.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.05. Fortive had a net margin of 13.36% and a return on equity of 13.15%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Fortive will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Fortive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Fortive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.56%.

Fortive Company Profile

Fortive Corporation designs, develops, manufactures, and services professional and engineered products, software, and services in the United States, China, and internationally. It operates in three segments: Intelligent Operating Solutions, Precision Technologies, and Advanced Healthcare Solutions. The Intelligent Operating Solutions segment provides advanced instrumentation, software, and services, including electrical test and measurement, facility and asset lifecycle software applications, and connected worker safety and compliance solutions for manufacturing, process industries, healthcare, utilities and power, communications and electronics, and other industries.